Forum-Wide Role-Play Concept

[Kyng]

Had been cooking and stewing this idea for a while, time for it to see the light of day.

Everything is simplified to a minimalistic level as it is the concept, rather than any lore, that is being conveyed. This article is stripped of lore for this reason, as it can be added to such a frame with ease.

The premise: two factions are at war. Can be fantasy, can be sci-fi, can be sci-fantasy. Would work best in the first of the three, in my personal opinion, but the latter would enable much more advanced, but unpredictable warfare.

Players can play in two particular groups:
- Soldiers, those who will readily fight and risk their life on the battlefield for their faction, or other reasons.
- Envoys, those wishing to resolve matters peacefully, pen mightier than the sword lest it come through their backs.

The game would be divided into two groups, those obviously being the two factions. Players would be allowed to create characters for both factions. Perma-death would occur, and replacement characters would be acceptable. The Moderator (or trusted member) would also play the Leaders of the Factions.

This Role-Play concept actually has an end point through victory. Achieving surrender from one side through diplomacy, or outright conquering the enemy's territory, would have a faction as victorious. Prize is optional.

The envoys would engage in diplomatic missions into enemy territories, attending conferences, discussions, meetings, etc. (these being individual threads) in order to negotiate and attempt to settle matters off of the battlefield, including acquiring territories and the like. This really lets players test their intellect against another.

Soldiers, in turn, would engage in territory capturing, which would be determined based on a map. Each territory would be an individual thread, and to claim a territory for a particular faction, that faction would have to hold (have a majority (more than 75%) of soldiers in that thread) for a given amount of time. Combat for these soldiers could be worked on by a simple system in order to remove the chance of god-modding.

 

This is far from a finished design, feedback would be brilliant. Perhaps this could become a thing.

[Thar]

Minimalist sounds like a good way to approach it. Considering how Aix's idea turned out, anything more obscure than a vanilla war theme sounds too ambitious to execute properly.

 

As for the Factions: What would you say an engineer would fit in? Like, an engineer who designs and builds weapons for other soldiers. Would that be considered a "soldier"? Or an engineer who designs non-weapon trinkets for non-war purposes. Would that make him/her an Envoy?

[Kyng]

Minimalist sounds like a good way to approach it. Considering how Aix's idea turned out, anything more obscure than a vanilla war theme sounds too ambitious to execute properly.
 
As for the Factions: What would you say an engineer would fit in? Like, an engineer who designs and builds weapons for other soldiers. Would that be considered a "soldier"? Or an engineer who designs non-weapon trinkets for non-war purposes. Would that make him/her an Envoy?

Note that this is but concept. Some lore would be necessary, but nothing overwhelming.

If an engineer were to build soldier-related weaponry, they'd be a soldier without question. The issue arises in the notion of those who aren't being drawn into war. Perhaps a Civilian-class would be necessary for such, characters who do not actively contribute to the war, thus catering to those enjoying a slice of life game.

[mitchermitcher]

I do like the notion of not bothering too much with the lore. And I need you to clear this up, but there are two factions, and in each faction are envoys and soldiers? Or is it an envoys vs. soldiers thing?

 

Moving on, it sounds great in concept but it feels a little icky. Especially the envoys part, because negotiation often leads towards exchanges of resources. You're going to need a very well-defined resource system, in addition to the land(Since I'm assuming the more land you control, the closer you are to winning, which means it's naturally an exchangeable resource with value). There isn't much customization here to envoy characters, since it's resources and the planning of the poster rather than the individual RP characters they control that really decide what happens. Hell, you're gonna need to plan the geography out pretty well, because different locations should have different value, making negotiations more varied. Meaning, different territories offers different resources or geographical advantages, and that is already a lot to set up. Probably gonna need to make a map and all, to show relative distances from one place to another, since that will also affect soldiers and where they can attack and where they can't.

 

And when it gets to that point, might as well make a strategy game instead. Don't get me wrong, this sounds fun as an RP, but it's a lot to set up. I'd be in for it but so far I'm not even sure I understood it right. Lookin' forward to how you flesh out this idea.

[bury the year]

If we do another forum-wide roleplay, the options need to be as wide open as possible, and if that's just having a setting rather than an actual plot progression, I'd much rather that. Give the briefest suggestions of plots and let the members craft from that. Those're my $0.02, ofc, so do what you think is best.

[Kyng]

I do like the notion of not bothering too much with the lore. And I need you to clear this up, but there are two factions, and in each faction are envoys and soldiers? Or is it an envoys vs. soldiers thing?
Faction's Soldiers and Envoys v Faction's Soldiers and Envoys

Moving on, it sounds great in concept but it feels a little icky. Especially the envoys part, because negotiation often leads towards exchanges of resources. You're going to need a very well-defined resource system, in addition to the land(Since I'm assuming the more land you control, the closer you are to winning, which means it's naturally an exchangeable resource with value). There isn't much customization here to envoy characters, since it's resources and the planning of the poster rather than the individual RP characters they control that really decide what happens. Hell, you're gonna need to plan the geography out pretty well, because different locations should have different value, making negotiations more varied. Meaning, different territories offers different resources or geographical advantages, and that is already a lot to set up. Probably gonna need to make a map and all, to show relative distances from one place to another, since that will also affect soldiers and where they can attack and where they can't.
 
And when it gets to that point, might as well make a strategy game instead. Don't get me wrong, this sounds fun as an RP, but it's a lot to set up. I'd be in for it but so far I'm not even sure I understood it right. Lookin' forward to how you flesh out this idea.
You might have a good point there, in which case since minimalism is the objective here, Envoys may not be a practical option.

If we do another forum-wide roleplay, the options need to be as wide open as possible, and if that's just having a setting rather than an actual plot progression, I'd much rather that. Give the briefest suggestions of plots and let the members craft from that. Those're my $0.02, ofc, so do what you think is best.
I agree, though simplicity is bliss. Less complication, less frustration.

So, am not certain as to whether Envoys are a viable system.